Well built, with a good looking, ergonomic design - the minimalist body makes the display the center of attraction

Modern, tall 18:9 display, with a great contrast ratio - comes across as more vibrant than the display on its top competitor, the Redmi Note 5 Pro

The display also has slightly higher brightness levels than the lower variants of Zenfone Max Pro M1, so you should get even better sunlight legibility

Runs clean and simple stock Android UI - there’s hardly any bloatware save for a third-party payment app and Asus promises version updates less than two months after Google pushes it out (till Android Q)

The performance is top bracket for this price range with the modern Snapdragon 636 chipset - the one that was introduced by Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro in the mid-range segment and effectively blew the competition away - and with 6GB RAM, performance in games is even better than the lower variants of the Max Pro M1

Good dual camera setup on the rear, with decent bokeh effects too - it is significantly improved over the lower variants of the M1 Pro - images are sharper, brighter and even the colors look a bit more vibrant - that said, however, it still isn’t quite as good as the Redmi Note 5 Pro

Good front camera - the selfies actually come out well-detailed with the right amount exposure and minimal beauty effects - it can also take portrait selfies and unlike other selfie-centric phones like the Oppo F7, the background isn’t overexposed to make the portrait stand out

The mono speaker on the phone is quite loud as well, thanks to a built-in NXP amplifier and a 5-magnet speaker (though its positioning could have been better)

Dedicated microSD slot and dual SIM slots

Very good 5000mAh battery, which can give you up to 2 days with moderate use

Asus also bundles a fast charger with the device that can charge the phone to its full capacity in around 2 hours 30 minutes

Comes (for a limited time) with Flipkart's Complete Mobile Protection offer for just Rs. 49, that add the cherry on the cake

On the whole, the Max Pro M1 is a brilliant comeback from Asus, and matches the best in the market, the Redmi Note 5 Pro, feature for feature - in fact, it actually beats the Note 5 Pro in terms of having a hassle-free stock UI, dedicated SD card slot, and longer battery life - although it falls behind it in terms of camera - so, what you finally chose will depend on what you value more, but this is nevertheless a competition between 2 top notch phones

The best looking OnePlus phone to date - has a polished refined design, with a glass rear panel, and three distinct (and beautiful) color options (plus the Marvel Avengers edition)

Excellent build quality

The phone is comfortable to hold, thanks to the curved glass rear

Face unlock works great in most conditions, and unlocks the phone in a fraction of a second (except in low light or under very bright sunlight)

There is also of course the fingerprint sensor at the back, if you wish to use that instead, and it works great too

OnePlus's excellent alert slider is there too (it has now moved to the right side of the phone) - and is now more simplified toggling between 3 simple states - ring, vibrate and silent, with a pop-up that tells you instantly which mode you are switching to every time

Excellent display - catches on to the modern 'notch' trend, with a tall screen ratio - the AMOLED screen is vivid, with punchy colours and great viewing angles - videos looks great, and you can also set your own custom colour temperature if you prefer

OxygenOS continues to be a huge differentiator for OnePlus - it strikes a great balance between keeping the base UI identical to stock Android but still adding a number of useful additions - like shortcuts, a dark theme, a scrolling screenshot capture tool, and controls for giving the on-screen buttons additional functions, night and reading modes, a choice of system fonts, and configurable colours for the notification LED - all in all, its a great software experience, that ticks the right boxes

Another interesting add-on is an optional gesture scheme that lets you get rid of the Android navigation buttons altogether, and gives you a full gesture based navigation scheme like the iPhone X - thus giving you even more screen space to play with - the gestures do take some time to get a hang of, but once you do, they will become second nature

There's also a Gaming Mode that not only suppresses non-essential notifications, but can also limit background apps' Internet usage, which can make a difference in online games - you can even route calls directly to the loudspeaker so you don't have to stop playing

Good set of dual rear cameras, significantly improved from the OnePlus 5T - especially in terms of portrait mode photos, low light performance, and video recording (including a new super-slow motion mode)

The rear cameras now also come with OIS

Decent (though not great) front camera, pretty similar to the OnePlus 5T - a software bokeh mode for the front camera is also there

Decent loudspeaker (pretty loud) - although it tends to get blocked when you hold the phone in landscape mode

Good (but not exceptional) battery life - will comfortably last the day with moderate to heavy use

Fast charging support, still one of the best in the business - the Dash Charger takes the phone up from zero to just over 50 percent in half an hour, and gives you a full charge in around an hour and a half

On the whole, the OnePlus 6 is good-looking, well crafted, extremely powerful - it is also a solid upgrade to the OnePlus 5T in almost all the departments such as display, performance, design and camera - and ultimately the OnePlus 6’s bang for buck is still about the best you can get in the smartphone world

2-minute Review [Negatives]

The display lacks scratch protection, so you will need to use a screen guard

The camera app UI is not the most elegant

A little slippery because of the glass

Will also tend to pick up smudges very quickly

It's not the easiest to reach all corners of the newly enlarged screen - people who prefer more compact phones might have preferred a smaller-screen option for themselves

At 177g, the phone is a bit on the the heavier side too

While OnePlus does claim that the phone has water-resistance, it's not IP rating certified, which likely means that the protection is quite basic

The rear and front cameras are good, but not really up to the high benchmarks set by the likes of the iPhone X, the Galaxy S9, or the Pixel 2 - this continues to be the only one significant area, where you will be making a compromise over the best flagship smartphones, when you buy a OnePlus device (of course admittedly for a much lower price)

Expert Reviews

If a smartphone's battery is your top priority, then you're going to be hard pressed to find a cheaper phone with better battery life